Stagiaire Wine "Sufficiently Whelming"

Grapes: Chardonnay + Sauv Blanc Region: Sonoma, California Vintage: 2024 Viticulture: Organic Vinification: Direct press Aging: 6 months Fining or Filtering: None Sulfur: None added Notes from the Importer: Things change. The industry changed. My ideas changed. Fruit sources changed. This cuvee was originally a single vineyard Sauvignon Blanc and later a blend of Chard and Sav Blanc from that same Redwood Valley vineyard. Though as my standards for farming and vineyard quality have risen and my willingness to drive long distances for vineyards has gone to zero, the vines making contributions to this cuvee have as well. Now it serves as a vineyard white wine blend. An entry into the Stagiaire house style. An examination of the vintage across sites and varieties. The name has always been a bit cheeky since this wine always overdelivers for its price, and I feel it continues to do so to this day. 2024 was a hot and fast vintage. We started bringing fruit in earlier than ‘23 and ‘25 and seemingly every site was ripe at the same time. Massive thanks to the harvest team that year. We brought in the majority of our tonnage in a 10 day period. Partially dictated by the rapid ripening but also with some intentionality, we picked at slightly higher sugar levels than in past years, as flavor and skin development seemed to be lagging behind potential alcohols. I’m very proud of this decision as the wines have plenty of stuffing and are full across the palate. White fermentations in 2024 struggled to finish, in fact many of them are still progressing in the cellar. Thus when